LAS VEGAS -- Prosecutors filed formal charges Tuesday against O.J. Simpson, alleging the fallen football star committed seven felonies, including kidnapping, in the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a casino-hotel room.
Simpson was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room and took several items Simpson claimed belonged to him.

Simpson, 60, was booked on suspicion of assault and robbery with a deadly weapon. Clark County District Attorney David Roger filed those charges and added kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to court documents.

Simpson, who was accused along with three other men, was also charged with one misdemeanor. He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.

He was being held without bail and was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in the robbery reported at the Palace Station casino.

According to the charges, Simpson and the others went to the room under the pretext of brokering a deal with the men. Once in the room, Simpson prevented one of the collectors from calling 911 on his cell phone "by ripping it out of Bruce Fromong's hand" while one or more accomplices pointed or displayed a handgun.

The complaint does not specify which of the men involved was carrying the weapon.

Simpson's lawyer, Yale Galanter, said he planned to ask for Simpson's release on his own recognizance.

"If it was anyone other than O.J. Simpson, he would have been released by now," Galanter said.

Simpson has insisted he was not armed and that he went to the hotel simply to retrieve property that had been stolen from him.

"You can't rob something that is yours," Galanter said. "O.J. said, 'You've got stolen property. Either you return it or I call the police."'

Witnesses and authorities have said that they don't believe Simpson had a gun but that some of the men who accompanied him during the confrontation were armed.

Two others named in the complaint, Walter Alexander and Clarence Stewart, have been arrested and released. Authorities were seeking an arrest warrant for a fourth man, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, a man police describe as "a key player" in the alleged theft.

"We hope to have him in custody today," said officer Ramon Denby, a police spokesman. "Hopefully, he'll be cooperative and surrender with his attorney."

Simpson and the other three men are charged with: two counts of first-degree kidnapping; two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon; burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon; two counts of assault with a deadly weapon; conspiracy to commit kidnapping; conspiracy to commit robbery; and a misdemeanor, conspiracy to commit a crime.

Simpson also faces one charge of coercion with use of a deadly weapon, a felony.

Earlier Tuesday in California, a judge gave Fred Goldman a week to come up with a list of sports memorabilia O.J. Simpson is accused of stealing from the Vegas hotel room, but he refused to order Simpson to hand over his earnings from everything from autograph signings to video games.

Simpson was acquitted more than a decade ago of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman's son, Ron. He was later found liable for the slayings in a wrongful death trial.

The civil jury returned a $33.5 million judgment against Simpson, but it remains largely unpaid. The Goldman family has waged a campaign to claim Simpson's assets since then.

Alexander, one of the men arrested with Simpson, said Tuesday that Simpson may have been tricked because another memorabilia dealer who tipped him off also recorded everything on tape.

"It sounds like a setup to me," Alexander told ABC's "Good Morning America." He said Simpson had thought the memorabilia belonged to him after getting a call from the dealer.

Bruce Fromong, one of the collectors in the room at the time, spoke publicly about the incident on Monday and described Simpson and a group of men coming into the hotel room "commando style."

Later Monday, Fromong had a heart attack. He was in critical condition Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3026122

black an gold 4 life

09-18-2007, 08:33 PM

wow this has set up all over it u mean 2 tell me they recorded the whole situation? no one seen any weapons but o j got charged with assault an robbery with an deadly weapon?what was the weapon? man this type of stuff could only happen n amerikkka, why were the ohter 2 booked an released? they r facing the same charges right? amerikkka the biggest thug is gonna make sure o.j get put n jail 4 something, but i will say this o.j should've known this was an set up

BlitzburghRockCity

09-18-2007, 08:59 PM

ESPNRadio said today that if he was found guilty on all of the charges he could face a combined sentence of life in prison.

We all know THAT won't happen though :nonod:

StlersGuy

09-19-2007, 08:50 AM

ESPNRadio said today that if he was found guilty on all of the charges he could face a combined sentence of life in prison.